Dukes See A Record Fall In Split-Squad Meets

Friday, January 29

Huntington, W.Va.

All Day

James Madison University

Thundering Herd Invite

1/30/2016 5:05:00 PM | Track & Field

HARRISONBURG, Va. – The James Madison track & field team competed in two separate meets Saturday, with one group of student-athletes participating in Marshall University's Thundering Herd Invite in Huntington, W.Va. while another group stayed in Virginia for George Mason's Patriot Games.

Overall, the Dukes saw one record-breaking performance, two Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Championship qualifying marks and several personal records (PR's) on a full day of competition.

Graduate student Amber Monroe broke her own school record for the indoor shot put today at the Thundering Herd Invite. Competing in only her second meet for JMU, Monroe's throw of 15.60 meters broke the Jeff Small Track record (13.58m), the Thundering Herd Invite meet record (13.58m) and her own school record (previous - 15.45m) en route to first-place honors.

Aereale Scott continued her impressive start to the 2016 indoor season with noteworthy showings in two events at the Thundering Herd Invite. The sophomore turned in an ECAC qualifying time in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.76 in the preliminaries and 8.71 in the finals, finishing in fourth place. She also set a personal record in the indoor 200-meter dash, crossing the line in 25.57 seconds to beat her previous best of 26.08, set at the Sykes & Sabock Challenge on Feb. 17, 2015.

Also setting a personal record in the indoor 200-meter dash was junior Kennedy King, who turned in a time of 25.40 seconds at the Thundering Herd Invite to beat her previous PR of 25.66. Sophomore duo Tyrah Burrow and Gina Bischof earned personal-best times of 57.47 and 1:01.34, respectively, in the indoor 400-meter dash at the Invite as well.

Showing steady improvement in their first year of collegiate competition, freshmen Meredith Willis and Dominique Johnson set personal records of their own. Willis began the day with personal bests of 5.05 meters in the indoor long jump and 10.95 meters in the indoor triple jump. Johnson then topped her previous best of 12.35 meters in the shot put with a distance of 12.56 meters.

"There was great competition all-around, so I'm happy with how we competed today," said Head Coach Chereé Hicks. "We did a lot of good things that were indicative of the hard work the team has put in the last two weeks, and it will lead us to success down the line as well."

At George Mason, the Dukes were led by a 1-2 finish in the indoor 800-meter run by sophomores Madeleine McCarty and Haley Mahn, a second-place finish in the indoor 1,000-meter run by junior Carol Strock and a third-place finish by freshman Erin Saunders in the indoor 3,000-meter run.

Strock surpassed the ECAC qualifying mark of 2:56.24 for 1,000-meter run with a personal-best 2:53.16, beating her previous mark of 2:58.03, which she set at the 2014 Virginia Tech Challenge. She also stakes her claim as seventh in program history for the indoor 1,000-meter run.

Saunders' 3,000-meter run time was also a personal record as she crossed the finish line with a time of 10:16.58 to beat her previous mark of 10:32.98 from the 2016 Father Diamond Invitational.

"Carol ran extremely well. She kept her focus and ran strong the entire way," said coach Dave Rinker. "I also thought Erin Saunders ran extrmely smart and focused to get a nice personal best in the 3,000. Madelein and Haley went out and dominated the 800 and even though their times were fast, they controlled it the entire way and looked good."

TWEET OF THE DAY

@JMUTrackField setting a ton of personal records today... Big time! Go Dukes!????
— Lauren Steinbrecher (@JMUVBcoach) January 30, 2016

UP NEXT
James Madison returns to action next weekend when the Dukes travel to Penn State in State College, Pa. for the Sykes & Sabock Challenge. The first night of competiton will take place on Friday, Feb. 5 with the rest of the events scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 6.